A/N: Prepare for the cuteness overload.

There was a long pause. Emma held her breath which made her feel extremely light headed as Regina's fingers were pressed tenderly against her clit, frozen in place. Brown eyes scanned her face, trying to decide if the words were genuine. They were. Emma had known how she felt about Regina for weeks. Longer. Perhaps she'd always known what the doctor would mean to her, from the moment they first met in the hospital. Maybe everything that had happened, the hellish past two months, maybe it had all been leading up to this.

"I love you too."

Lips crashed down against the startled blonde's mouth. But it didn't take long before Emma was kissing Regina back, her arms wrapping around the older woman and pulling their bodies flush together. She didn't care that Regina's hand was now trapped between them, the pressure released from her still aching clit as her fingers slipped away. She just needed to feel her. All of her. All of them. Together.

The knock on the door woke Emma at once; used to being a light sleeper after six years of motherhood. She glanced over at Regina who was curled against her back, and saw that she was decent. The two of them had gotten dressed into pyjamas in the early hours of the morning just in case Henry got up before them. Which, evidently, he had.

"Come in, kid," Emma called, inadvertently rousing Regina who snuggled closer into her back, not quite aware of what was going on in her sleepy state.

The door creaked open and Henry's head appeared, hair tousled from sleep. "Can I come in?"

"Of course you can, baby," Emma said. "And thank you for knocking. That was very polite."

Henry smiled despite the use of the nickname he despised and walked over to the bed. He hesitated as he stood beside the mattress for a moment before Emma pulled back the duvet and he scrambled up and slid beneath the warm covers. Behind Emma, Regina was finally realising what was happening and propped herself up on an elbow to peer over her girlfriend at the boy now in the bed with them.

"Good morning, Henry," Regina said, her voice even lower and raspier than usual. Emma's body felt a little hotter.

"Hi Gina," Henry said, smiling at her as he lay down beside his mother. "You and Mum had another sleepover?"

"We did," Regina said, glancing at Emma. "Is that ok with you?"

"Sure," Henry said. "I like it when you cook me breakfast."

"Hey!" Emma cried indignantly. "What about my breakfasts?"

"They're not as good," Henry said simply. "Gina's pancakes are fluffier."

Regina laughed as Emma scowled and flopped back into her pillows. "I do make fluffy pancakes," Regina admitted, kissing Emma's cheek as she lay down as well. "Would you like pancakes this morning, Henry?"

"Yes please," Henry said. "With blueberries?"

"Do we have blueberries?" Regina asked, the question directed to Emma.

"Nope but I'm sure we can get some. Can we have another ten minutes in bed though? I'm tired."

"Did you sleep bad?" Henry asked, a concerned look on his face.

"I slept well but only a little bit," Emma admitted, deliberately not looking at Regina to stop herself thinking about what activities had kept the two of them up until the early hours of the morning. She suspected that had Henry not woken before them, the two of them would have found themselves entangled once more.

"That was silly," Henry said. "You should have gone to bed earlier like me."

"Yes," Regina agreed, nodding fervently. "I think tonight we should go to bed straight after Henry. What do you say, Emma?"

The heat now rising up Emma's body could not be ignored so she threw back the duvet, climbed over Henry and out of bed. "On second thoughts, I'll run to the shop now and get those blueberries. Any other requests?"

"Chocolate," Henry said. "And sweets."

Emma laughed. She was glad her son had his appetite back but she didn't want him to spend the next few months in the dentist having his teeth pulled out. He'd seen enough medical professionals to last him a lifetime. "We have everything you were given at the hospital in the cupboard, remember?" Emma said. The gifts from well-wishers had remained at the foot of Henry's hospital bed, untouched, until Emma had loaded them into the back of the car the day before when Henry had been discharged.

"Oh yeah," he nodded. "Then just the blueberries. And some chocolate milk."

Emma laughed and grabbed some clothes before heading towards the bathroom to get changed. It wasn't like both Henry and Regina hadn't seen her getting dressed before but somehow the fact that they were both in the room together made it awkward. As soon as the blonde was gone, Henry reached for the discarded duvet and covered his chilled body in it. The fever was, at last, fading away.

"So," Regina said, suddenly feeling a little self-conscious. She and Henry hadn't spent a huge amount of time together, just the two of them. And they'd certainly never taken part in a Sunday morning ritual such as lying in Emma's bed together without the woman herself. "Um, what do you want to do today?"

"After pancakes?"

"Naturally."

"I don't know," Henry admitted. "It's odd having to decide what to do. I mean, hospital was super boring and I hated lying in the bed all day. But at least I didn't have to choose what I wanted to do. I just lay there. All the time."

Regina laughed. "That is very true. Having options is hard but it is also a luxury. What did you miss most when you were in hospital?"

"My friends," Henry said. "And school. But you said I couldn't go back yet."

"No," Regina conceded. "Not yet. But soon. Just a few more weeks and then everything will go back to normal."

"But you'll still be here, right? And I'll still see Dad?"

"What do you mean?" Regina frowned, slightly confused.

"Well, before I got sick, it was just me and Mum. All the time. There was Lily but -." He stopped and glanced at Regina, suddenly fearful.

"I know about Lily," Regina said softly. "Go on."

"Oh, well, it was always me and Mum together. We saw Auntie Ruby and Billy too and Gran and Granddad sometimes. But it was just the two of us. That was normal. But then I got sick and Mum met you and then you two found Dad and now I don't know what normal is."

Regina sucked in a breath. Did this mean Henry wasn't happy with the idea of her and Emma dating? Did this mean Henry thought their relationship was time-sensitive; tied only to his illness. And what about Neal? Surely it wasn't her place to talk to Henry about his newfound father.

"I'll be back in fifteen minutes," came Emma's voice from outside the bedroom before the apartment door slammed shut.

Oh. It seemed that, whether it was her place or not, Henry was only going to be getting answers from Regina. His small face was turned expectantly towards her, waiting.

"Um, I think your dad is going to be a part of your life from now on, Henry," she began, knowing at least that he had been told that much when it came to Neal. "Remember how he's coming down next weekend with your other granddad? He definitely wants to be a part of your life but because he lives in a different city, a different country, technically, you won't see him all the time. Just sometimes. He'll arrange special trips up to London to see you and maybe one day you can go to see him in Cardiff."

"Yeah, Mum said," Henry said. "So, he'll always be my dad now?"

"I hope so," Regina nodded. "If that's what you want." As she said this, she sent a silent prayer that Neal wouldn't let this sweet little boy down.

"And you and Mum," Henry said, bringing Regina back to the present. "Now I'm better, will you still come here to see me?"

"Yes," Regina said. "Of course. Your mum and I met because of you getting sick Henry but we really like each other. Now you're better, that just means the three of us can go out and do lots of fun things together instead of spending all of our time in the hospital. Does that sound like a nice idea?"

"Do you love her?"

Regina blinked. Had Henry really just asked her that.

"Um, yes, I do," Regina said, thinking back to the moment the night before when she had first said those words out loud after Emma had declared her feelings for her. To be honest, she was amazed the blonde had managed to wait for as long as she had before she voiced the emotions both women had been fully aware of for weeks.

"Does my mum love you too?"

"She does," Regina nodded. "And she loves you."

"I know that," Henry said simply. "I just wanted to check. She was really sad after Lily left. She thinks I don't remember because I was only four but I do. She was sad for weeks. She just cried all the time and wouldn't play with me. I spent lots of time with Auntie Ruby which was fun but then I came home and Mum was sad and it made me sad. I don't want her to be sad like that again."

Regina felt the tears burning her eyes and blinked rapidly to stop them from falling. Henry really was the most remarkable child she had ever met. Not surprising, she mused, considering who had raised him.

"Henry," Regina said, reaching over and placing her hand on his chubby cheek. "I promise you that I will do my very best to not hurt your mum. I love her very much and I know she loves me too. We want to be together and hope we will be together for a very long time."

"Like a family? With me?"

Unbidden, a tear rolled down Regina's cheek and sank into the pillow. Henry frowned. Tears were sad, weren't they? But before he could say anything, Regina spoke.

"Yes, Henry. Just like a family."

When the couple lay in bed later that night, after spending the day with Henry, Regina recounted the conversation in full. Emma's eyes glittered in the dark as she listened. She had never known, never even considered how her reaction to Lily's departure had affected Henry. She thought she had been a good mum. She thought she had hidden her broken heart from her son. Apparently not. And it shattered all over again as Emma heard how much Henry wanted to protect her. How he was afraid that Regina might be the cause of such sorrow in Emma some time in the future and yet –

"I'd never leave you, Emma," Regina whispered into the darkness. "I know I can't predict what's going to happen and that is one hell of a commitment to make after barely two months. But I can promise you I will never walk out on you and Henry, not like she did. I … well, right now I can't imagine ever not wanting to be with you. I love you."

"I love you too," Emma said, their lips meeting in a tearful kiss. "And I know you can't promise me forever. At least, not yet. But I trust you. I trust you not to disappear on us. If I had thought for a moment you were the kind of person who might do that, I would never have started anything between us. I trusted you from the start to not hurt me or Henry the way Lily did."

"I won't," Regina said. "I promise. I don't ever want to hurt you in any way."

"But relationships have their ups and downs and I don't expect this to be smooth sailing," Emma offered. "I mean; look at what we've been through already."

Regina couldn't help but laugh. It might have been a short relationship but they certainly had dealt with their fair share of drama. And emerged from the other side; stronger and still together.

"We just need to be honest with one another," Regina said. "Every step of the way. Whatever we're feeling, any concerns, anything at all. We voice them. We deal with them. And we can move on as a couple. Deal?"

"Deal," Emma said, kissing Regina again. "Except we're not a couple."

Regina frowned. "We're not?"

"Nope," Emma replied. "I think it's safe to say there are three of us in this relationship and from here on out, everything we decide needs to keep Henry in mind. He's the most important person here, agreed?"

"Agreed," Regina said. "The three of us."

The word 'family' went unspoken but both women understood the implications of that conversation. From then on, there was no other way to describe the trio. They were family.